By Caldwell Titcomb The scientist Spalanzani (tenor Neal Ferreira) strikes an unlikely deal with the nefarious inventor Coppélius (baritone Gaétan Laperrière) in the BLO’s fine production of “Tales of Hoffmann.” One of history’s most famous and beloved French operas wasn’t written by a native Frenchman. “The Tales of Hoffmann” came from the pen of Jacques […]
Music
Classical Music Review: Boston Civic Symphony
By Caldwell Titcomb One can’t go wrong with Beethoven, who provided all the music for the Boston Civic Symphony’s Jordan Hall concert on November 9. The orchestra was founded in 1924, incorporated in 1945 as the Civic Symphony of Boston, and underwent an official name change this year to Boston Civic Symphony (someone forgot to […]
Classical Music Review: Duo Diorama
By Caldwell Titcomb An amazing pair of instrumentalists gave a concert at the Longy School of Music on October 25. Styling themselves Duo Diorama, they are the husband-and-wife team of pianist Winston Choi and Violinist Minghuan Xu. These young players (he is 30 and she is 31) have been concertizing together for a long time, […]
Classical Music Review: Focus on Armenia
By Caldwell Titcomb Considered the father of Armenian music, Gomidas (or Komitas) was born Soghomon Soghomonian in 1869, and became active as a composer, singer, choir conductor, ethnomusicologist and priest. In 1915 he was one of 300 artists arrested and deported at the start of the Armenian genocide. He became so unhinged that he ceased […]
Classical Music Review: Fleisher at 80
By Caldwell Titcomb The two greatest American pianists to emerge in the twentieth century are Leon Fleisher (b. 1928) and Murray Perahia (b. 1947). From 1958 to 1962 Fleisher recorded all five Beethoven piano concertos and the two by Brahms with the Cleveland Orchestra under George Szell. These constitute the yardstick against which all other […]
Classical Music Review: A Conductor’s Debut
By Caldwell Titcomb The New England Conservatory (enrollment 750) recently decided to upgrade its orchestral program. Its major move was to appoint the newly-endowed Stanford and Norma Jean Calderwood Director of Orchestras. The inaugural holder of the post is the well-established conductor Hugh Wolff. In 1975 he graduated magna cum laude from Harvard (where he […]
Music Review: Patricia Barber’s `The Cole Porter Mix’
by J.R. Carroll “Singer/songwriter” is not a description often applied to jazz musicians, and generally with good reason: Jazz instrumentalists have demonstrated again and again that as wordsmiths they are, well, outstanding instrumentalists. At best, the typically after-the-fact lyrics strive uneasily for either social uplift or hipster knowingness; at worst, they are just embarrassingly lame. […]
Classical CD Review: Victor Rosenbaum & Schubert
By Caldwell Titcomb Luckily the Boston area is home to a considerable number of world-class pianists. Among them is Victor Rosenbaum. An honors graduate of Brandeis University, he was chair of the piano faculty at the New England Conservatory before heading the Longy School of Music for 16 years. He currently is on the Conservatory […]
Classical CD Review: Boston Secession
By Caldwell Titcomb The local choral group called the Boston Secession has recently issued its second CD recording, entitled “Surprised by Beauty: Minimalism in Choral Music.” Founded in 1996 by conductor/pianist Jane Ring Frank, who had moved east from California in 1991, this professional chorus consists of two dozen singers – six sopranos, six altos, […]
Classical Music Review: A Choral Farewell
By Caldwell Titcomb The Cambridge Community Chorus (CCC) was founded in 1990, and has in the past 18 years grown in size and skill under the leadership of William Ethaniel Thomas. Thomas is retiring from his post and led his farewell concert in Sanders Theatre on May 25 before an enthusiastic audience. For his final […]